BEGINNER’S PLUCK: Helen Warner

HELEN WARNER is one busy woman. Head of Daytime TV for Channel Four, she’s also a mum of two. So how did she find the time to write her first novel, RSVP?

“I live in East Anglia, and when I moved from ITV to Channel 4 four years ago I found the commute unbearable. So to stop myself going completely mad, I opened my laptop and started to write. I found I loved it. And the biggest surprise was I stuck with it and finished a novel.”

Who is Helen?

Date/Place of Birth: 13th January, 1969. Place: Northern Ireland.

Education: The Harwich School, Essex, and Goldsmith’s College, London University.

Home: East Anglia.

Family: Husband Rob, her childhood sweetheart, and children Alice, 10, and Paddy, seven.

The Day Job: Head of Daytime TV, Channel Four. “I describe myself as a TV producer who has written a book.”

Hobbies: Shopping.

Favourite Writers: “Marian Keyes. I feel depressed finishing one of her books, because I’ll never be as good as her — and Margaret Atwood. Cat’s Eye is my all-time favourite book.”

Second Novel: “It’s called IOU, and will be out next year. I’m 80,000 words in, and I think it’s a better book.”

Top Writing Tip? “A writer friend, Jane Moore, said ‘if you ever get stuck, keep writing. Write anything, and it will get you over the hump.’ Every time I did that, it worked.”

Twitter: @helencwarner

THE DEBUT

RSVP, Simon and Schuster, €9.99; eBook, €13.20.

RSVP is set in London. Take one wedding and four girls. Watch, and see what happens. There’s sweet Anna whose heart was broken at Cambridge University; there’s her best friend, Clare; there’s Ella, the bitch from hell — and then there’s Rachel, the blushing bride to be.

All women view the wedding with hope, but trepidation. None expect the day will change their lives forever.

The Verdict: A fresh, finely paced read, that will take you by surprise.